AFTER three days of the 2021 Punchestown Festival, the most relevant comparative figure was that Willie Mullins had trained 13 winners, just five short of his record haul of 18 achieved in 2018, while all other trainers had saddled 11 winners.

This level of dominance is quite staggering, especially at a meeting of this quality. His runners had won all bar one of the Grade 1 races, and collared all but three of the 14 blacktype races. As I write he is already making those figures obsolete on Friday.